Adrak Ki Chai (Ginger Tea, Indian Style)

Spicy ginger-tea is great to have without any reason. But extra nice if you've a cold or a sore throat.

Ingredients:

Fresh Ginger - 1/2" piece

Water - 1 cup

Milk - 1/4 cup

Sugar (Sweetener) - to taste

Procedure:

Clean and peel/scrape the ginger piece,

- and grate (or crush) it.

Add to the cup of water in a pot. (The ginger can be increased or decreased according to taste. Stronger version may be preferred, if for medicinal properties.)

This vessel is a "Mysore Milk Pot" which must surely be the most inappropriate thing in which to boil milk, because the design ensures that the rapidly boiling liquid will swiftly overflow in that very second that you glance away for just a moment. I just love it, though. And so does everyone else. So it gets used all the time. Half the fun is the challenge of managing to turn off the flame - or lifting the pot up, - before it can overflow!

Allow it to boil for a few minutes. (That ought to evaporate around a quarter cup of the water to make room for the milk that we're going to add...)

(If someone in the house has a cold or cough, this decoction can be made in a larger quantity for several cups worth and stored in the refrigerator, to be used throughout the day by adding to freshly brewed cups as and when they get made.)

Add the milk to the decoction,

and also the tea leaves. I generally use black tea like the Brooke Bond Red Label or Kanan Devan blends;
Leaf or Green tea isn't very good for this sort of "kadak" (stiff) chai.

(Update: I have since switched to Organic teas since they are easily available nowadays. For such boiled chais, I now use mostly Assam black tea such as from 24 Letter Mantra)

And boil well (apparently the longer it boils, the more caffeine content of the tea goes up!).

Strain,

Add sugar, which could also have been added along with the tea leaves.
This is Khandsari - a type of unrefined sugar.